Garlic scapes are the jewels of late spring/early summer. Scapes are the “flower stalks” of hard neck garlic plants. Farmers cut off the scapes so they do not inhibit the growth of the bulb. Scapes are beautiful and delicious and can be found at farmer’s markets this time of year. Read more about scapes here.

I discovered garlic scapes last year at the Montclair Farmer’s Market and have been waiting patiently for them to reappear at my new local market in Sunnyside. Low and behold, they did! There are a lot of different scape recipes out there on the good ol’ internet that I want to try such as scape pesto and scape carbonara.

However, I have an amazing cookbook, Super Natural Cooking, by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. I constantly leaf through this cookbook, staring at the gorgeous photographs and dreaming of making every recipe. One recipe has been on my mind for quite some time now-Garlic Scape Soup. It is a simple recipe that yields a fantastically green-colored luscious soup. Unfortunately, when I went to make the soup, I realized that I only had half the amount of garlic scapes that I needed, so I made a few substitutions. The soup was still delicious! I definitely recommend buying this book (or her newer cookbook, Super Natural Every Day) and making this soup!

I served this soup alongside some crusty bread and a caprese salad. A delicious, light, vegetarian summer meal!

The next time I make this soup I want to drizzle a bit of truffle oil over the top courtesy of The Filling Station.

1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat, then add the scapes and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and scallions and sauté for 1 additional minute.

2. Add the potatoes and stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.

3. Remove from heat, add the spinach and puree using a hand blender. (I was at my mom’s house and she does not have a hand blender. I had to use her food processor, which worked fine. Just make sure to process the soup in batches so the hot liquid doesn’t come squirting out and burn you.)